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folks, somewhere out there is a list of radio call letters matched to Spitfire serial numbers...

ie Spitfire MJ255 had 412's letters VZ - S

I have had no luck finding the matching call letters for MK853 shot down on May 10 44, or Spitfire MkVB AB215 on strength with 412 on June 29 1943.

Any direction or advice is most welcome...

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Spitfire Mk. IXc, VZ-B serial MH883. 412 Squadron RCAF, flown by Canadian top-scoring ace F/Lt George “Buzz†Beurling. Standard Day Fighter camouflage.

20-04-1943

1730hrs

Supermarine Spitfire Vc EE686 VZ-R of 412 Squadron RCAF suffered engine failure and force-landed in a field and ran through a hedge into the road by the quarry at Reen, 1 mile NE of Perranporth. The pilot was injured and the aircraft badly damaged.

MK853...

was at 39MU 11-3-44

I don't have a date for tranfer to 412Sqdn, Combat in Creil/Laon area then shot down nr Reims by Fw190s 10-5-44 F/Lt J A C Crimmins killed

so, I 'm guessing VZ-R was recycled as planes were damamged or lost... thanks very much for the link...

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I do know from researching Charley Fox's records that his personal code 'VZ-F' was used on NH357 and MK916. (he was flying MK916 when he shot up Rommel on 7-17-44)

Hope this helps.

:cheers:

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So wing commaders (JE-J) and Sqdn commanders could pick a favorite letter or letter combination for their aircraft, but just how involved were the other pilots in the choice of code letters ? There could not be duplicates in the air at the same time (that's an assumption only) but if there was damage or loss, was the letter recycled to the repalcement or was the next available letter used instead ?

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So wing commanders (JE-J) and Sqdn commanders could pick a favorite letter or letter combination for their aircraft, but just how involved were the other pilots in the choice of code letters ? There could not be duplicates in the air at the same time (that's an assumption only) but if there was damage or loss, was the letter recycled to the replacement or was the next available letter used instead ?

From talking to Charley before he passed, he said that when he first joined the squadron in January 1944, he shared a Spitfire with another pilot, taking turns flying.

The two pilots weren't even assigned to an aircraft either. From his logbook at the time, he was flying VZ-C,K,N,O,V&W.

(by the way, his flight leader at the time was George Beurling, aka 'Buzz' or 'Screwball' Beurling)

On D-Day he was flying Spitfire KL-B (I'm guessing a loaner from 54 Sqn RAF). Just realized this was the same code on Al Deere's Spitfire in the Battle of Britain. :woot.gif:

Later on in the summer when he was able to have his own aircraft (ie didn't have to share), he was given permission to use the specific aircraft code letter 'F'. (F for Fox) :whistle:

He went through at least three Spits that I know of (probably more), and each replacement aircraft was coded 'VZ-F'.

I don't know if this was common practice, but I have heard of it happening on other occasions. (One pilot in 401 Squadron wanted the code 'Y' so his plane would YO-Y "Why-Oh-Why?")

Hope this helps.

:cheers:

Edited by rcaf_100
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I appreciate your help...

Some of the log entries I've seen for 412 pilots refer only to the serial number (no reference to the plane's radio call letters) You note that Charlies' log made mention of his various early kite's VZ-? letter, is there any chance there would have been a cross reference to the serial as well ?

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Unfortunately, no.

He was on the ball for serial numbers when he was training and flying as an instructor, but once he got to No. 1 OTU at Bagotville, most of the aircraft IDs are the code letters.

For example, when he was in a mid-air collision at Bagotville when his Harvard was bounced by a Hurricane, his entry refers to Harvard '498', which we now know was Harvard IIb/AT-16 FE498.

The only Spitfire serial numbers mentioned are NH357, when he makes the comment somewhere that he 'got NH357 back again' after it had been sent to a MU for repairs, and MH432, which he flew in three times in early January '45.

He was delivering it from Tangmere to B88 (Heesch) and bad weather forced him down at Manston twice (tried to fly out on 2nd day and turned back).

I'm guessing since it was a delivery flight, it wouldn't have been coded yet.

If you have access to 412's Order of Battle, we could cross reference the entries in there with Charley's logbook entries.

That's how I found out about MK916, but I only had a copy of one page of the Order of Battle for 7-17-44.

:cheers:

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This Spitfire aircraft was built as a single-seat LFlX fighter at the Castle Bromwich factory of Vickers Supermarine in 1944 as part of contract No. B981687/39. It was delivered to the Royal Air Force at No.33 Maintenance Unit at Lyneham in Wiltshire as PV202 on 18/09/44 where it was brought up to operational standard for service delivery.

The aircraft moved to an operational pool of pilots and machines at No.84 Ground Support Unit at Thruxton, Hants, and on 19/10/44 finally entered service with 33Sqn. 135 Wing of 2nd Tactical Air Force, based at Merville, Northern France, carrying the codes “5R-Qâ€. The Squadron was tasked mainly with ground support of offensive operations as the allied forces pushed further into Europe and was also engaged in the harassment of enemy troop movements by carrying out strafing attacks on road and rail convoys. The aircraft moved to its new base at Maldegem in Belgium before returning to the UK on 14/12/44 at 84GSU, Lasham when the Squadron converted onto Hawker Tempest Aircraft.

PV202 had carried out 20 operational sorties with ten pilots from Britain, Denmark, Holland and South Africa during its service with 33 Squadron. A move between M.U.’s took it to 83GSU at Dunsfold in January 1945 before being issued to 412Sqn. Royal Canadian Air Force operating from Heesch in Holland where it carried the Squadron identity “VZ-M†later changing to “VZ-Wâ€. Operations were still to strafe anything enemy moving on the ground and the Squadron eventually moved further into Germany itself, being based at Rhein and Wunsdorf forward operating airfields. On 04/05/45 Fg Off H.M.Lepard carried out the last of PV202’s 76 operational sorties with 412 Sqn.

more here... http://www.ARC-duxford.co.uk/spitTix.htm

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On June 30, 1941, 412 "Falcon" Squadron was the RCAF's seventh fighter squadron formed overseas. They were part of the Canadian Digby Wing in 12 Group. Their first operational sortie was on August 31, 1941 when two planes were scrambled. The squadron was equipped with Spitfire Mk. IIa aircraft, at the time, freshly painted in the new Dark Green / Ocean Grey / Medium Sea Grey camouflage scheme with the yellow identification strip along the front edge of the wing which was introduced in mid August. In October the squadron began converting to the Spitfire Mk. Vb.

While flying P7856 "VZ-E" on October 13, 1941, Sergeant Edward Noel Macdonell from Vancouver, British Columbia, was credited with the squadron's first victory after destroying a Bf.109 ten miles off Boulogne during a patrol. Sergeant Macdonell was promoted to the rank of Pilot Officer (J15053) the following week. After his service with 412 Squadron, he went to 124 (Baroda) Squadron, RAF. 20 year old P/O Macdonell was flying a Spitfire Vb (W3436) when he failed to return from a patrol on April 24, 1942. He has no known grave and his name is inscribed on the Runnymede War Memorial, in Surrey, England.

P7856 "VZ-E" was also flown by J5823 Pilot Officer (P) John Gillespie Magee, Jr., who was an American citizen born in Shanghai, China. He listed his residence as Washington, D.C., when he enlisted in the RCAF in October 1940. While training on Spitfires at 53 OTU he wrote "High Flight" for which he is best remembered. After completing his training at 53 OTU, he was assigned to the newly formed 412 "Falcon" Squadron, RCAF, at Digby. At age 19, P/O Magee was killed after his Spitfire Vb (AD291) collided with an Airspeed Oxford in clouds at low altitude on December 11, 1941. He is buried in the Scopwick Church Burial Ground, Lincolnshire, England.

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P/O Donald Earl Reiber was flying a Miles Aircraft Ltd. build Spitfire IXe, ML351, VZ-? of 412 Sqn RCAF, 126 Wing, 2nd Tactical Airforce.

October 01, 1944 together with 2 other Spitfires he flew from their airfield B80 Volkel or B84 Rips for a weather reconnaissance in the Nijmegen area.

ML351 got seperated from his flight in heavy clouds and was reported missing at 11.30h.

Is the radio call letter unknown or was this another use of a question mark for a personal code ?

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Lieutenant Colonel Albert P Clark, Executive Officer of the 31st Fighter Group, is shot down while flying with the 412 Squadron (Royal Canadian Air Force), on a sweep over France, thus becoming the first 8th Air Force fighter pilot to be shot down in the ETO; he survives and is taken prisoner by the Germans. European Theatre: Germany. Stalag Luft 3 Sagan-Silesia Bavaria (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser) 49-11.

"I thought I'd tell you a little bit about how I became a POW. I think most of you remember it from England. I was not very happy about the fact that I was your first casualty. It was not anything to brag about. But, you may remember, while you were at Atcham, and the new pilots were trying to learn how to keep from ground looping, 7 of us were sent down south to find out what the war was like. That included myself, the squadron commanders, and deputies. 7 of us were flying with the British (actually Canadians, RCAF 412 Sqdn) over Abbeville. I was shot down when my flight of four (I was not leading the flight, but I was a wingman) beat up the airdrome. In the process, I got involved with several ME-109's and had to bail out

Spitfire Vb BL964 coded VZ-G

Spitfire Vb, BL964,

5MU 22-2-42

64S 28-3-42

FACB 3-4-42 309S

FTR ops 26-7-42

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  • 3 months later...

If you have access to 412's Order of Battle, we could cross reference the entries in there with Charley's logbook entries.

That's how I found out about MK916, but I only had a copy of one page of the Order of Battle for 7-17-44.

:cheers:

I've left this one for a bit while I tackled other projects....

Just where might one access the squadron's Order of Battle ? I've googled, I've trolled through the governments on-line historical pdfs, are there any other avenues ?

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  • 1 year later...

Could you let him (member rcaf_100) know that VZ-C was MK253 and VZ-V was MH617... and I could use his help decoding even more. I have access to the Operational Records in question and if I had a copy of Charley's logbook entries it would be of great help to complete the puzzle. You can give him my email address too.

Cheers,

Mike

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  • 7 years later...

I have this picture of VZ-M which, to my knowledge was flown by my grandfather Bruce E Macpherson F/L with 412. Second picture is another plane he flew "Breezy II", not sure other details of Breezy II. If anyone has any intel on Bruce Macpherson please let me know, I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

 

vzm.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

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